The Flyers’ ineptness on offense — at least at the start of an NHL season — hasn’t been equaled in almost a half century.

Thursday’s 4-1 loss to visiting Pittsburgh marked the eighth straight time they had failed to score more than two goals since the season started. That’s the first time that has happened since 1964 when the Boston Bruins did it in the first nine games according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Flyers are 1-7 and have scored a total of 11 goals. Their record and the number of goals scored are the worst in franchise history for the season’s first eight games.

“It’s tough to win games when we (only) play one period like we can” forward Max Talbot said. “I think in the third that’s the kind of hockey we want to play. First and second especially the second period we didn’t show up and we got some bad penalties as well again.”

Before the game coach Craig Berube said it would take a 60-minute effort to beat the Penguins. Instead the Flyers were listless in the first 10 minutes and the entire second period.

“We had a pretty bad second period. Too much running around didn’t work hard enough and they took it to us and we paid for it” forward Brayden Scehnn said. “We know we have to play 60 minutes and we didn’t do that tonight.”